Since the advent of the World Wide Web, many advances have been made in the appearance and sophistication of Web pages that may be viewed by a user utilizing Web browser software from a computer. Initially, Web browsers could show only one Web page at a time. Today's newer Web browsers, such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, allow the screen to be divided up into separate frames. Each frame can show the contents of a different Web page from the same Web site or Web pages from different Web sites.
Software applications are now available that are designed to be accessed by one or more users through a Web browser. The application normally resides on a Web server or other computers within a network that is accessible by the user's Web browser software over the network. In such applications, after a user has requested the URL of the Web site for the application, it is quite typical for the user to be presented with a screen having multiple frames. The user may interact in one frame, such as clicking on a hyperlink, and have the resulting Web page returned in the same or one of the other frames. For example, selecting the URL for such a Web browser based application may return to the browser window a Web page that has a logo in a narrow frame across the top of the screen that never changes while the user is connected to the application's Web site. A narrow frame down the left side of the browser window may have a table of contents that lists hyperlinks to all of the additional Web pages available within the site or Web pages to other Web sites. The rest of the screen may be devoted to a main frame that has an initial Web page displayed. When the user clicks on a hyperlink listed in the table of contents frame, the Web page corresponding to the hyperlink is returned and can be displayed in the main frame of the browser window. Hyperlinks may also be present within the Web page currently displayed in the main frame. The user may also click on one of these hyperlinks, causing the Web server to return a new page for display within the main frame.
Many Web browser based applications are designed for multiple users to be logged into the application's Web site at the same time through computer network connections. Each user may have the ability to affect changes in the application through their Web browsers. These changes may have an immediate affect within the application. For example, the application may involve a data base. Each user may be able to add to or delete records from the data base through their Web browser. This however poses a problem. If user A adds or deletes records from the data base, user B has no way of knowing about the changes at the time the changes are made. User B has to update or refresh the browser window in order to become aware of the changes that user A has made. However, since user B does not know that user A has made changes, user B does not know that the browser window being viewed needs to be updated.
Also, some applications that present multiple frames have different processes that control and run within the frames. Some frames may be driven and controlled by C, C++, Java, or some other programming language. Other frames may simply be static HTML driven. Still others may be driven by dynamic CGI/HTML scripts. For example, an application may allow the user to launch a function or task from a frame that is programming language driven. This function or task may alter or change a data base associated with the application. That change may be reflected in a Web page returned to the Web browser in the HTML or CGI/HTML driven frame. A message about that change, in some cases, should also be reflected back in the programming language driven frame. Present methods do not allow for automatically communicating to the programming language driven frame as a result of changes instigated from the HTML or CGI/HTML or programming language driven frames.
Thus there is a need in the art for a method of notifying a Web browser user of a Web browser based application that the information displayed in a frame in the Web browser window needs to be updated due to changes made by that user or other users of the Web browser based application. There is also a need in the art for a Web browser user of a Web browser based application to be able to see automatically within all the frames displayed on the user's Web browser, changes instigated from within a programming language driven frame, a HTML driven frame, or a CGI/HTML driven frame.
It is thus apparent that there is a need in the art for an improved method or apparatus which solves the objects of the invention. The present invention meets these and other needs in the art.
This application is related to application Ser. No. 09/065/262 of Douglas William Steele, Craig William Bryant, Todd M. Goin, and Thomas J. Moos filed Apr. 23, 1998 entitled Method for Tracking Configuration Changes in Networks of Computer Systems Through Historical Monitoring of Configuration Status of Devices on the Network, which is incorporated herein by reference for all that is disclosed and taught therein.